It gets dark at 5 p.m., your dog is brown, and his favourite meadow has no street lamp. Welcome to the winter half of the year. Here is how you both get seen without it turning silly.
The principle: movement is noticed, surface area is not
Drivers spot reflective strips on moving legs considerably earlier than a reflective patch on a back. So: reflectors belong where the movement is. On the dog that means the harness and the leash, on you your shoes or trouser legs.
The sensible order
- Reflective elements on the harness or coat. Passive, always on, no empty batteries. The basis.
- A small light on the harness. Not as a floodlight, but so you can find your own dog again out on the field.
- Light colours beat dark ones. An olive-brown coat is pretty; in the November dusk it is a cloak of invisibility.
And you?
The most honest sentence in this post: the dog is usually better equipped than the human at the other end of the leash. A reflective leash solves both problems at once.
You will find reflective models among the harnesses and leashes and among the coats.